Retirement Security

Colorado faces a retirement crisis — a substantial number of working families are not saving enough to meet their needs in retirement. An estimated half to two-thirds of working families are at risk of not being able to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. Low-income working families are most at risk.

The best way to save for retirement is to participate in a workplace savings plan and put away a portion of each paycheck. However, 45% of Coloradans in their prime working years, 753,000 workers, have no retirement savings plan at work. Low-income workers, members of minority groups, young workers and those working in small businesses are most likely not to have a plan at work.

To help more workers save for retirement, six states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, and Vermont — created public-private partnerships to design and operate workplace retirement savings plans for private sector workers who do not have access to one. These states are in various stages of setting up their plans. Oregon began enrolling workers in larger firms in January 2018 and will expand to other sized firms throughout the year and beyond.

Colorado should follow the lead of other states and enact the Secure Savings Plan to create a public-private partnership to develop and operate a workplace retirement savings plan for private sector workers without access to one at work.